Apparently, when Angus Young of AC/DC heard Sad Café's My Oh My he said it was the best record the Stones had ever made. I know what he means; I came to it late (and by late I mean within the last few weeks) and was convinced - when I first heard the vocals kick in - it was Karl Wallinger and World Party. And anyone who knows Wallinger will attest that his Goodbye Jumbo album contains (at least) three Stones cast-offs. File under 'what goes around comes around'. Judge for yerself.
Karl Wallinger's current band are just about to enter their thirtieth year; I say band, but World Party have never really been anything more than Wallinger, his songs and a bunch of session musicians he picks up from time to time to record and or go out on tour with. And there's been precious little of either of those activities lately.
In 2001 Wallinger suffered a major brain aneurysm. It literally stopped him in his tracks. For five years. Since then he's put out various compilations and anthologies and embarked on a couple of mini tours but, and here's the rub, since writing and recording She's the One, in 1997, he's been all but bankrolled by Robbie Williams. Williams, along with former World Party member Guy Chambers, recorded their own version without telling Wallinger and turned it into a monster. Albeit a very profitable monster.
Here's some footage of a new slimmed down World Party (the band that is, not Wallinger) busking outside a record emporium as part of last year's Record Store Day.
Jeff Lynne seems like a nice bloke. He'd be good company on a long train journey; you know it wouldn't be long, on a jaunt between London and Edinburgh say, until his bag of boiled sweets would come out to share - maybe somewhere between Peterborough and Grantham. Unlike Paul McCartney, on the other hand. His goodie bag wouldn't see the light of day 'til the 125 was pulling in to Waverley. Most likely.
Lynne cares for the planet too. But not in a shouty shouty way. I really do love this song that first appeared on his Armchair Theatre album in 1990.
Karl Wallinger must have liked it too. Not for the first time he took an idea from ELO's front-man and ran with it; Always on my Mind tells a similar tale and, for me, is the standout track from World Party's Dumbing Up long-player from 2000. I don’t know how Wallinger would fair on the boiled sweet litmus test though. Anyway, he's probably a Jelly Baby man. Or maybe he has a soft spot for Liquorice Allsorts. Who doesn't? In which case I would understand perfectly if he kept the bag to himself. That said, he's welcome to the round pink things with the black middle. What were Bassett's thinking?
Hands up if you still do compilation CDs for your friends. Thought so. If you fancy taking it one stage further (go on, you know you want to) then why not join the good people over at Summer Burn 2011.
And don't forgot to tell your friends.
If you're (un)lucky enough to get a disc from me, this'll probably be Track 1.
I'm going out for a few beers tonight with one of my oldest friends. Mark and I go way back: we met over 20 years ago and, as with many bloke relationships, it's a friendship with its roots firmly based in music, beer and football. Over the years we've got drunk in most of Europe's major (and some not so major) cities, as well as on home turf.
I've been under the cosh recently, what with one thing and another (previous and, no doubt, future blogs refer), so it'll be good to slip anchor and do what the male of the species does so well - talking bol**cks. Suffice it to say that stories will be told (and re-told), landlords will be telling us to turn the noise down and carriages will whisk us back to our lodgings sometime before day-break.
It was Mark who introduced me, many years ago, to World Party: he did me a copy of Goodbye Jumbo when it first came out - that C90 then lived in my car for as long as I can remember (I really must thank him for that tonight). Prior to that I'd not really latched on to Karl Wallinger, but have kept an eye on his career thereafter. He's not always had the rub of the green, but, and this isn't true of most troubadours - he's judged by his songwriting peers to be one of the elite. I mention all this because for the last week, whenever my iPod has been on shuffle, World Party have been, pretty much, omnipresent.
So, without further ado (or that Robbie Williams hit), here's a reminder of a couple of Mr. Wallinger's best bits:
Is It Like Today, taken from their 1993 album, Bang!
And, finally, Vanity Fair from 1997's Egyptology - I saw them around this time at Wolverhampton's salubrious Wulfrun Hall. Apologies, in advance, on behalf of the plank who uploaded this clip to YouTube - you'll see why.
